September 16, 2008
Obama's abortion record under fire in latest independent adPosted: 12:50 PM ET
From From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
(CNN) – A newly formed anti-abortion group is taking direct aim at Barack Obama, launching a television ad in key campaign states that features a 31-year old survivor of an abortion procedure.
The ad is only one of a handful of newly-launched independent television commercials hitting airwaves in recent weeks as the final stretch of the presidential campaign begins.
BornAliveTruth.org, an independent expenditure group known as a 527, is hitting airwaves in New Mexico and Ohio with a 30-second spot that criticizes the Democratic presidential nominee for voting against the Born Alive Infants Protection Act in when he was an Illinois state senator. Obama has said the Illinois state Senate version of that bill was an attempt to undermine Roe vs. Wade, and said Illinois already had a law that insured life saving treatment was given to survivors of abortion procedures.
Watch: New ad targets Obama on abortion
The group was founded by Jill Stanek, a columnist to the conservative for Web site World Net Daily, who has made controversial statements in the past expressing her opposition of abortion rights. Under the headline “Faithful condom users die,” she wrote on her Web site in March that efforts to post billboards in Tanzania with the words "Faithful Condom Users" next to a picture of a large skeleton should be supported.
The new ad features Gianna Jessen, who survived a late-term abortion procedure in 1977 and says in the ad, "If Barack Obama had his way, I wouldn't be here."
“Can you imagine not giving babies their basic human rights, no matter how they entered our world?" Jessen says in the ad. "Four times, Barack Obama voted to oppose a law to protect babies left to die after a failed abortion. Senator Obama, please support born alive infant protections. I’m living proof these babies have a right to live.”
The group, which the AP reports is heavily backed by former Mitt Romney supporter Raymond Ruddy, is spending $350,000 in the initial buy to air the ad in Ohio and New Mexico television markets — two campaign states that are up for grabs this presidential cycle.
BornAliveTruth's ad follows that of Brave New PAC and Democracy for America — independent Democratic organizations supporting Obama. In their 30-second ad, McCain’s fellow prisoner of war Philip Butler describes the Republican nominee as “unfit to lead” – making the spot one of the first to mention McCain’s POW stint in a negative context.
"The prisoner of war experience is not a good prerequisite for president of the United States," says Butler. "He was known as a very volatile guy and he would blow up and go like a Roman candle. John McCain is not someone I would like to see with his finger near the red button."
That ad’s release comes amid reports that the conservative American Issues Project is planning a multi-million dollar negative ad buy aimed at the Democratic nominee. And MoveOn.org and the Services Employee Inernational Union — two groups backing Obama — have already launched substantive ad buys in key battleground states critical of John McCain.
None of these groups are allowed to communicate or coordinate with the campaigns in any way because of federal campaign finance regulations, and both Obama and McCain were heavily critical of Independent expenditure groups during their respective primary contests. But as the race for the White House continues to remain a dead heat, both candidates have refrained from condemning the wave of new commercials.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/16/obamas-abortion-record-under-fire-in-latest-independent-ad/#more-18696
